Published in Gaming

Sony officially announces the "PS3" Slim

by on19 August 2009

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Beauty sacrificed for a 45nm Cell Processor

In what we hoped would be a rather glamorous launch for Sony’s latest hardware refresh of the PlayStation 3 turned out to be a terrible disappointment in regards to the aesthetics and uniqueness that the console once had in years past.

Today, the company officially revealed the “PS3” Slim, a significantly trimmed down version of the popular console specifically being 32 percent smaller, 36 percent lighter and having 34 percent less overall power consumption. However, we are unsure if the power consumption number is being compared to the current 65nm models or the original 90nm model. We choose to put quotes around “PS3” simply because the console does not carry the PlayStation name with it anymore. Sony has unfortunately decided to scrap the authoritative “PLAYSTATION 3” text and has instead mimicked the design of the PS2 from the year 2000.

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Additionally, the company decided to scrap the black mirror-polished finish and silver lining on what was once deemed the most attractive-looking console in the history of gaming.

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All superficialities aside, the Sony PS3 Slim also features a smaller price tag of just $299 and is equipped with a 120GB 2.5” 5400RPM hard drive. More importantly, it is equipped with a new 45nm IBM Cell Processor rather than the 65nm currently found on the “PLAYSTATION 3” 40GB, 80GB and 160GB models. The RSX “Reality Synthesizer” graphics processor based around Nvidia’s G70 core stays the same size at 65nm. However, chip performance stays identical to the launch day models of November 2006 – seven Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs) at 3.2GHz each on the Cell and a 550MHz GPU core with Geforce 7800 performance at 200GFLOPs.

On a stronger note, Sony also decided to throw Linux support out the window on the PS3 Slim, as there is now no option in the XMB Menu to “Install Other OS” as there had been on all previous models. After some puzzling decision analysis, the best suggestion we can offer is that the company is trying to lock down on security as much as possible by avoiding any pirating loopholes and homebrew exploits. This is very typical of Sony, given its terribly long and unpleasant relationship with the PSP homebrew community that emerged in 2005 and continues strong into the future.

Sony’s unglamorous stripped down half-console will be available in stores for $299 during the first week of September. At the same time, the “PLAYSTATION 3” 80GB will get a price cut to $299 as well and the “PLAYSTATION 3” 160GB will get a price cut to $399.

Last modified on 20 August 2009
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